


the tsar lies cold

by evangelistofstars



Category: Anastasia - Flaherty/Ahrens/McNally
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Canon Divergence, Canon Related, Emotional Roller Coaster, Glenya, Guns, Lots of Angst, One-Sided Relationship, Pining, Sad Ending, Unrequited Love, still/the neva flows (reprise) with some divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 06:24:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14254899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evangelistofstars/pseuds/evangelistofstars
Summary: A revolution is a simple thing. Love, however, is not.





	the tsar lies cold

The two of them stood in the room. Alone. And  _ almost _ in silence.

“We both know it’s not a game, Gleb.” said Anya, trying to sound confident, but inside, she was shaking with fear.

“If you really are Anastasia, do you think history wants you to have lived?”

“Yes.” She said, regaining her confidence. “Why don’t you?”

 

These words hit gleb and he quivered as if something was wrong.

_ Why don’t I?  _ He thought. 

_ Because… I know. Because I know that she is. Because I know that she can’t be. _

This was the truth. He knew that she was really Anastasia, and he knew that he couldn’t accept that. Henceforth, he knew that history would not want her to have lived, and she had to be destroyed.

 

But he did not want to destroy her.

“The Romanovs were given everything and gave back nothing. Until the Russian people rose up and destroyed them.” He said, his hands shaking as he held his gun. 

 

God, he so didn’t want to do this.

 

“All but one.” said Anya, indignantly.  _ “Finish it.” _

 

Gleb swallowed the lump in his throat, and he knew that he had to do this.

“Finish it I must.” he said.

 

At first, he thought of Anya, and all the feelings he held towards her. But then he thought of his father, and of Russia, and of what he had been sent here to do.

 

_ He remembered that fateful night, when he, only a boy, had watched as his father fired at the Romanovs. He remembered his father’s reaction. He had shook his head. _

_ “I told you not to ask about it, Glebka. Now go to bed.” He had said, patting the boy on the head. _

_ Not long after, he was dead. His mother told him he had died of shame after what he had done to the Romanovs. _

 

But Gleb believed that his father’s task was not only proud, but vital. It was in his father’s name that he cocked that pistol, in his name that he did what he was about to do.

He stared at Anya, almost transcended into that fateful night at Yekaterinburg so many years ago. The children’s voices rang in his ears as he held out his gun to shoot her.

 

“Do it.” she said. “Do it and I will be back with my parents and my brothers and my sisters. Do it, and I will be home”

 

_ The children. Their voices.  _ “A man makes painful choices. He does what’s necessary, Anya.”

But as he said this, he knew that he had a choice. A choice between Anya and Russia herself. A choice that would determine _ his fate _ just as much as it determined hers.  _ Do it for Russia. _ He thought.  _ For the people. For Leningrad. _

 

_ The neva flows, a new wind blows, and soon it will be spring. _

These echos rang in his head, of the words he had uttered to Anya in his office, what seemed to him so many years ago, though at the same time it felt like it was yesterday….

 

He knew he had to do it. 

He aimed his gun, ready to fire. But still, he heard the voices in his head.

_ The leaves unfold, the Tsar lies cold. _

“A revolution is a simple thing.” He said, more to convince himself than to explain to her.

 

But it was right then and there that he broke. It was right then and there that he realized: He couldn’t shoot her.

_ A revolution is a simple thing.  _ He thought.  _ But love is not. And love is not what revolution’s for. _

He put down the gun, having to restrain himself from literally shattering to pieces.

And then…. He  _ smiled  _ at her.

 

“Why do you do that? Why do you smile at me?” asked Anya, unable to look him in the eye.

 

“Because….” he said, pausing for a moment to think.  _ Because what? What was he supposed to say?  _ “Because…. I love you.”

 

This sentence made Anya stop dead in her tracks. She had thought maybe Gleb had cared about her, but never in her life had she expected him to tell her he  _ loved _ her.

 

“But,  _ why _ do you love me, Gleb?” she asked, starting to get defensive. “Why would you possibly love me?”

 

It was at this moment that he shattered, collapsing onto the floor in noiseless, convulsive sobs. 

It was at this moment he utterly cracked, unable to go on with his orders. 

It was at this moment that he realized: He truly loved Anya, and he would not let any harm come to her.

 

It was at this moment, when he, though physically very much alive, felt himself die in his soul.

Gleb’s life would continue on. But he knew that he would never be the same again.

 

“Are you alright, Gleb” asked Anya, holding out her hand in sympathy.

_ But he was not, nor would he ever be, okay. _

**Author's Note:**

> so i've never written glenya (or anything from anastasia actually) before, but i had this concept and i just HAD TO write it!!!
> 
> shoutout to the glenya fam (kat, bobbi, asya, jacq, mimi, alyté, brooke, meg, and anyone else i forgot to mention) and shout out to my mom for giving me the description !!! ❤️️❤️️❤️️


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